Top News:
Jerry Crasnick / ESPN:
Source: Yanks offer fifth year to reel in Burnett … The New York Yankees, making a hard late charge to beat out the Atlanta Braves for A.J. Burnett, offered the free-agent right-hander a guaranteed five-year contract Wednesday, a baseball source told ESPN.com.
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Joel Sherman / New York Post:
CC SABATHIA PICKS YANKEES — LAS VEGAS - CC Sabathia is not going to play on the West Coast. He is not going to play in the National League. CC Sabathia is going to be a Yankee, The Post has learned exclusively. — After three straight days of face-to-face meetings between GM Brian Cashman …
Yahoo! Sports:
Opt-out clause key to Sabathia going to Yankees — Buzz up! — LAS VEGAS - Baseball's perennial high-rollers, the New York Yankees, scored the biggest coup of the winter meetings when CC Sabathia reached preliminary agreement on a deal that will pay him $161 million over the next seven years.
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:
Yanks, Sabathia reach 7-year deal … LAS VEGAS — Free-agent pitcher CC Sabathia is about to sign with the Yankees, SI.com has confirmed. The deal being finalized now is expected to pay Sabathia about $160 million over seven years. — The two sides are on the verge of an agreement …
Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:Derek Lowe Rumors: Wednesday
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports, MetsBlog.com, iYankees, IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS, WasWatching.com and Pinstripes, Pa.
Cork Gaines / MLB Rumors:Sabathia Reaches Agreement With Yankees
Discussion:
New York Post, JSOnline, Boston Globe, MVN, True Blue LA, Yahoo! Sports, Pinstriped Scranton, WasWatching.com and MY BASEBALL BIAS
Jose Mota / Yahoo! Sports:
Nationals extend offer to Teixeira — Buzz up! — LAS VEGAS - The Washington Nationals have stepped boldly into the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, making an offer to the free agent first baseman for seven years and $150 million, a highly placed baseball source said Wednesday morning.
Discussion:
MLB.com, Boston Globe, Nationals Journal, MLB FanHouse, iYankees, Federal Baseball, PE.com, Hot Foot and LA Times Sports Blog
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Mike DiGiovanna / LA Times Sports Blog:
Mark Teixeira negotiations heating up — LAS VEGAS — The Yankees' imminent signing of free-agent left-hander CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $160-million deal would seem to take them out of the running for Mark Teixeira, but that will hardly ease the competition the Angels face in retaining the free-agent first baseman.
Duk / Yahoo! Sports:
BBWAA opens doors wider, admits four more Internet writers — Slowly but surely, the Baseball Writers Association of America is becoming more inclusive. The organization just held a meeting here at Bellagio and, for the second straight year, humbly voted to add a few Internet writers to their newspaper-dominated ranks.
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Christina Kahrl / Unfiltered:
Baseball Prospectus and the BBWAA — The Winter Meetings are the baseball industry's opportunity not simply to meet and make a few changes, it's also the place where a lot of the game's affiliated institutions make moves of their own. That took a different form this morning …
Discussion:
Baseball Digest Daily Blog
David Lennon / On the Mets beat:
Inside the K-Rod signing — With the Mets about to make the Francisco Rodriguez signing official in a matter of minutes, new details have emerged about the speedy negotiations with the free-agent closer that resulted in the three-year, $37-million deal. — When K-Rod and his agent …
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Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Smoltz's wish list includes Boston — LAS VEGAS — John Smoltz wants to pitch for a team that could take him to the World Series. — He hopes that's still the Atlanta Braves, the team for whom he has pitched since 1988, but the 41-year-old free agent is considering the Red Sox …
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Scott Lauber / Phillies:
HERE'S THE DEAL: PHILS ACQUIRE CATCHER — LAS VEGAS — So, it seems the “small trade” mentioned by Ruben Amaro Jr. will be a swap of catchers. The Phils will send Class AAA catcher Jason Jaramillo to the Pirates for Ronny Paulino, a .278 hitter in parts of four seasons.
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For the Record:
QUOTE(#4): … what about last year BurghFan? — Capps went on the dl last year on July 2 with should bursitis and did not join the big club again until august 23, - essentially missing 2 months of the season, so get your facts straight on that. — he's also free agent after this season …
Corey Brock / MLB.com:
Are the Twins another Peavy player? — In three-way deal, Minnesota could land Cubs' DeRosa — LAS VEGAS — Have the Minnesota Twins emerged as another team that's in play in the proposed multiteam deal that would see Jake Peavy sent from the Padres to the Chicago Cubs?
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Adam Kilgore / Boston Globe:
Boras: Sox offer Tek, multiple offers for Tex — LAS VEGAS — Scott Boras addressed a massive pack of reporters here at the Bellagio at roughly 4:20 p.m. local time. He said Mark Teixeira, the most prominent free agent remaining, has received contract offers from every team with interest …
Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com:
Three-way deal could send Putz to Mets — Mariners and Indians also involved in trade talks — LAS VEGAS — The Mets, Mariners and Indians appear to be on the verge of a three-team deal in which J.J. Putz would go to New York as the setup man to the newly acquired Francisco Rodriguez.
JSOnline:
Latest Brewers updates — By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel — Las Vegas - We just had our daily briefing with Brewers general manager Doug Melvin and here are the latest updates on several topics: — *Free agents Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse.
